Where did Chapter Nine go?

The audiobook jumps from the middle of chapter nine to chapter 10. Missing is the pivotal scandal that consumed Fritz Krupp, leading to Bertha becoming "Cannon Queen." It's just gone. Fortunately, I've read this book before, but Audible customers are gonna be going, "Huh? Whaaaaat?"

66 people found this helpful

So what happened to Fritz Krupp?

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Not leaving out a pivotal part of the book (part of chapter 9)

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Arms of Krupp?

The fact that they skipped one of the pivotal sections of the book.

What does Paul Boehmer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I found him an excellent narrator overall.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Arms of Krupp?

None, unlike the "unabridged" audio book I payed for.

Any additional comments?

I wish they'd fix the issue with the missing section.

30 people found this helpful

BIG CHUNK MISSING

Audible has no mechanism for reporting techniocal issues in its recordings. So I have to use this review in the hope that somebody reads it and does something to fix this one. It is not the first like this that I have found and I am sure it will not be the last. But this one just got really annoying.

The recording truncates chapter 9 of the book. I don't know how much is missing but it is enough to exclude the suicide of one of the central figures after a sex scandal and half of the dynastic implications that it caused. Annoying in itself but doubly so when the rest of the book makes continuing references to that period for which, as a listener, you have been given no information. Its a 47 hour book and about every 20 minutes for the last 37 hours of it an oblique reference is made to a conversation that you have not been allowed to hear.

The book is fine. The narrator is fine. The recording is massively frustrating and substandard. Audible needs to pay a bit more attention to QA or at least let its listeners do the job effectively for them.

91 people found this helpful

Excellent Narration!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I was surprised by the very intriguing and engaging subject material as one would expect such a volume would belabor the average listener, yet there never seems a moment when we are bombarded by technical or metric information. Mr. Manchester could make the greatest reading from absolutely anything!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Most all of the characters are indispensable yet Alfred the Great was that one pivoteable figure all others were centered around.

What about Paul Boehmer’s performance did you like?

I appreciated his slight inflections of sarcasm and disdain. Paul obviously understood Manchester very well. The best narrations are ones that don't distract and we were served very well, thank you PB!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

They put the 'fun' in dysfunctional! Yes, go the comic route. There's just too much of it there...

Any additional comments?

It would seem the problems regarding chapter 9 were addressed.

6 people found this helpful

Merchants of Death Are People Too

I read this book more than forty years ago and loved it then. I love the audio version more. This is a long long book and many might drown in it's minutia. Manchester, however, is a master at epic story telling. He weaves history, period drama, and technical explanation into a compelling work that holds one's attention. Of course it helps that each generation of Krupp patriarchs had their quirks and closet skeletons. The Krupps were not king makers, but they were the family that armed kings. They allowed good men to make strong states and bad men to commit mass murder.

This is an old book and it is easy to forget that at the time it was published the implication of Germany as a whole with the Holocaust and not just the Nazis was new and controversial. Much of the second half of the work examines the Krupp family's willing use of slave labor to maintain the Nazi war machine. Critics charged Manchester as unfairly biased against the Germans; this at a time of the Cold War when it had become an important ally. Readers today should have better distance to judge.

Historians as well criticized "The Arms of Krupp" for its pretense as a scholarly work. There well may be a few cases where Manchester does not allow facts to get in the way of a good story, but more likely academic poo-pooing has more to do with envy over's Manchester's ability to make money from his historical writings.

12 people found this helpful

Pronunciation may be correct, but annoying.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Ok, but too easy to put down due to narration.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Another History title.

How could the performance have been better?

The pause prior to every attempt at 'proper' pronunciation of names, words and phrases was so irritating. Would have preferred Grover Gardner's narration by far.

Do you think The Arms of Krupp needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

All good books on German oligarchs' participation in Nazi militarism should be added to audible titles. Alchemy of Air is best.

Any additional comments?

Over emphasis of non-English pronunciation is distracting, annoying and so unnecessary. It ruined an otherwise acceptable title.

9 people found this helpful

just ok

Any additional comments?

For the most part the book is interesting and informative. However the author has the annoying conceit of liberally sprinkling the book with German phrases along with their translations. Unless his purpose is to provide lessons in German this does nothing except to slow down the narrative. The narrator does not have a comfortable cadence and has the habit of drawing out the name Krupp to KKKrrupp.The book is unnecessarily lengthened by the inclusion of the German phrases and uninteresting details. Otherwise the book is a good history of Krupp.

11 people found this helpful

Fascinating Saga

"The Arms of Krupp" is the comprehensive story of the notorious German Krupp family, most known as influential members of the Nazi Party. Alfred Krupp served time for war crimes. As a matter of fact, the Krupp family's use of slave labor via the concentration camps is the most appalling and shocking part of the book. William Manchester's work is exhaustive and exquisite. It is so comprehensive that it does drag at times, but it's not laborious. It's more because there is so much information. At 48 plus hours long, it is a most compelling listen.

Paul Boehmer's narration is perfect for this German saga. He has some interesting ways of pronouncing words, but it's not distracting. He keeps the pace moving as it should. Well done. What a masterpiece of the biographical narrative.

2 people found this helpful

review

the major problem with this book is that the English is intermittently translated to German and it becomes extremely annoying and totally unnecessary for an English-speaking reader / listener. It was so irritating that I decided to do something that I rarely do which is never finished the book.

2 people found this helpful

Manchester!

Manchester is the best and the story of Germany thru the Krupp lens is fascinating

1 person found this helpful